There are a variety of types of closures for containers. One type of closure includes a body for being attached to the top of a container. The closure, container, and product within the container are referred to as a “package”. Such a closure can be molded or otherwise manufactured from a suitable material (e.g., a thermoplastic material). Such a closure typically has a hollow body (which may be alternatively described as the closure base or base portion) that, when installed on the open end of a container, defines an opening to the container interior. Such a closure typically also includes a lid (which may or may not be hingedly mounted on the closure base) which can be lifted up to expose the container mouth (i.e., the opening defined by the open end of the container). With some such closures, a liner in the form of a removable membrane is disposed across a lower portion of the closure or across the container to initially seal the contents (i.e., a product) from the ambient environment.
For some types of products, it can be desirable to provide a closure that has a base with a relatively large access passage (e.g., opening) normally covered with a hinged lid that can provide access to the product (such as fluent products, as well as non-fluent products), and that, when opened, can accommodate the insertion of a utensil (e.g., scoop, spoon, knife, ladle, etc.) through the open closure to permit the product to be stirred and/or scooped out of the container with the utensil.
Some containers, especially some types of wide mouth metal and composite containers, have significant manufacturing tolerances with respect to the design dimensions of the container open end that defines the container mouth.
Some such containers, especially some types of metal containers, have a open end that may also have some other type of irregularity that is unintentionally created during manufacturing and/or during subsequent processing (e.g., labeling, storage, shipping, etc.) prior to the closure being installed on the container. For example, during shipping of empty metal containers, one or more of the containers could be subjected to an accidental impact that could create a small irregularity (e.g., a deformation or “dent”) in a portion of the container end around the mouth of the container.
The inventors of the present invention have determined that a container which has an open end with significant manufacturing tolerances and/or deformations or other irregularities can pose problems with respect to proper installation of a closure, securement of the closure, sealing of the closure, etc.
The inventors of the present invention have determined that in some applications, the use of a non-removable closure is preferred so as to increase the consumer confidence in the integrity of the package (e.g., by showing evidence of tampering) and to inhibit counterfeiting of the package filled with a substandard product.
The inventors of the present invention have determined that for some applications using some types of container closures, it may also be desirable to provide a latch for securing the lid to the closure base. The inventors of the present invention have more particularly determined that it may also be desirable in some closure applications to provide an improved lid latch retention feature that increases the opening resistance of the lid latch.
The inventors of the present invention have determined that for some types of containers, it may be advantageous to provide a utensil (e.g., spoon, scoop, knife, ladle, etc.) that can be used to stir and/or remove the product from the container after the container closure is opened. For some containers, the utensil might be advantageously initially provided inside the container or closure, or otherwise provided for use along with the container. The inventors of the present invention have determined that for larger containers requiring a longer utensil, it can be advantageous to provide a utensil that (1) has a first, self-maintained, “short” configuration which can accommodate shipping, storing, etc., and (2) has a second, self-maintained “long” configuration which can be deployed for removing the product from a container.
The inventors of the present invention have also determined that it can be advantageous to provide a utensil in the form of a scoop that (1) has a first “storage” configuration wherein the scoop is of reduced height or depth to accommodate shipping, storing, etc., and (2) has a second “use” configuration of the desired operating height or depth for removing a product from a container.
The inventors of the present invention have determined that in some applications it could be advantageous to provide (1) a utensil initially attached to the closure inside the closure so that a user can detach the utensil after initially opening the closure, and (2) means for releasably holding and storing the utensil inside the closure after use so that the utensil can be isolated from the exterior environment but can be readily available for subsequent use.